140 
CRESTED TITMOUSE. 
CRESTED TITMOUSE. — PARUS BICOLOR. 
Plate VIII. Fig. 5. 
Parus bicolor, Linn. Syst. i. 544, 1 — La mesange buppee de la Caroline, Buff. v. 
451. — Toupet Titmouse, Arct. Zool. i. No. 324. — Lath. Syn. iv. 544, 11 ■ 
Peak's Museum , No. 7364. 
PAR US BICOLOR. — Linnaeus. 
Parus bicolor, Bonap. Synop. p. 100. — The Crested Titmouse, Aud. pi. 39. Orn. 
Biog. i. p. 198. 
This is another associate of the preceding species ; but 
more noisy, more musical, and more suspicious, though rather 
less active. It is, nevertheless, a sprightly bird, possessing a 
remarkable variety in the tones of its voice, at one time not 
much louder than the squeaking of a mouse, and a moment 
after whistling aloud, and clearly, as if calling a dog ; and con- 
tinuing this dog-call through the woods for half an hour at a 
time. Its high pointed crest, or, as Pennant calls it, toupet , 
gives it a smart and not inelegant appearance. Its food 
corresponds with that of the foregoing ; it possesses considerable 
strength in the muscles of its neck, and is almost perpetually 
digging into acorns, nuts, crevices, and rotten parts of the 
bark, after the larvse of insects. It is also a constant resident 
here. When shot at and wounded, it fights with great spirit. 
When confined to a cage, it soon becomes familiar, and will 
subsist on hemp seed, cherry stones, apple seeds, and hickory 
nuts, broken and thrown into it. However, if the cage be 
made of willows, and the bird not much hurt, he will soon 
make his way through them. The great concavity of the 
lower side of the wings and tail of this genus of birds, is a 
strong characteristic, and well suited to their short irregular 
flight. 
This species is also found over the whole United States ; 
but is most numerous towards the ndrth. It extends also to 
Hudson’s Bay ; and, according to Latham, is found in 
Denmark, and in the southern parts of Greenland, where it is 
